The Game Plane
The Game Plane was the world's first and only in-flight game show where "it ain't just a plane old game". Format Part quiz show, part game of chance, the game plane featured Allegiant passengers on their way to vacation, competing for thousands of dollars in prizes, including all-expenses paid vacations at Las Vegas' most popular luxury resort properties, airfare to Honolulu on Allegiant, Las Vegas show tickets and more. As soon as they reached cruising altitude, an actual Allegiant flight became the Game Plane, where passengers became contestants and travelers became winners. Each passenger received a different playing card (no Jokers) when they arrived for their flight. If their card was called, then they were a contestant on the show. Trivia games, putting contests, even specially designed "turbulence games" were played by these lucky passengers to win a variety of cash and prizes. Some games required the passenger to bring their traveling companion to play with them. Sometimes, in between games, the host would ask trivia questions to random passengers for $20. Various Games *'Gate Game (Opening Game)' – This was played at the airport, where the game began before the contestants boarded the plane. The host would ask five questions, and every right answer awarded $20 in cash, for a maximum of $100. In case of a team playing, they divided whatever money they won. *'Battle of the Ages' – (Not to be confused with the equally short-lived 1952 DuMont/CBS primetime game show of the same name) Before playing this game, the host asked the flight attendant what the average age of all the passengers on the episode's flight was. Two contestants were then selected to play: one older than the average age, and one younger. They were then shown two pictures of items (usually related to each other in some way). Each of them would choose which was older. Correct answers scored that set. After five pairs of pictures were played, the player with the most correct answers won a prize chosen for them, and another prize chosen for all the passengers on the flight that matched their age range. If there was a tie, the contestants were shown only one picture of an item, and had to estimate its age in years. Whoever made the closest guess, high or low, was the winner. *'Bye Bye Birdie' – (Not to be confused with the musical comedy play of the same name) Two contestants played a variant on miniature golf. Each player had three putts. If they sank the ball, they could double whatever money they had received for that putt by answering a question. On the first putt, which was two feet from the hole, a successful shot earned $50, with a chance to double it to $100. Each subsequent putt doubled the starting value, and added two more feet away from the hole. The player with the most money (out of a possible $700) won the game and a bonus prize. If there was a tie, each contestant took another six-foot putt. The player whose ball was closest to the hole was the winner. *'Checklist Challenge' – This was played in an auction format similar to the Bid-A-Note game from Name That Tune and the Auction category from Tic Tac Dough; two contestants attempted to list off items in a given category, taking turns to see how many items they could name. The first player to win two out of three lists won a prize. *'Do You Read Me?' – Played similar to Pyramid, two players would give each other clues to an answer that belonged in a given category. The team had one minute to get as many correct answers as possible. Two categories were played, each consisting of ten answers, and in between categories, the players changed jobs. Every right answer awarded $20, but a total of at least twelve correct answers awarded a bonus prize. *'Face Off' – (Not to be confused with the element from Family Feud or the reality competition series on SyFy of the same name) A series of questions were asked to two contestants, each with three possible answers. Correct answers scored that question, while wrong answers gave the opponent a chance to answer. The first player to give five correct answers won a prize. Occasionally, the questions were all about the flight's destination. *'Flight Connections' – A married couple was given paddles with sides labeled A and B. The host would then read ten pairs of choices. Each spouse would choose the answer that they thought described them the most. If they could match on at least seven pairs of choices, they won a prize. *'How Smart is your Copilot?' – A variation on the Ralph Andrews game shows I'll Bet and It's Your Bet, as well as Round 3 from Street Smarts, a team of two contestants played this game. One of them was placed in an isolation booth (really the lavatory), and their partner was asked five questions; however, they were not told if they were right or wrong. Afterwards, the partner was released from isolation, and was asked the same questions. But instead of answering the questions themselves, they had to predict whether their partner got them right or wrong. Each correct judgement was worth $50. Depending on the episode, there were two ways to win big: *#Making at least four correct judgments for a bonus (either doubling their money, or adding a non-monetary prize). *#After all five questions were played, deciding to either keep their money, or trade it in for a mystery prize. *'Landing Letters' – To start, contestants were given a category to be used for that game. They were then shown a scrambled word/phrase, and a series of blank spaces representing the answer. They were given a clue, and the letters in the scramble would land (be placed) into the correct spaces. The contestants had ten seconds to solve the puzzle, earning $10 for each second leftover. Four puzzles were played: the first puzzle had five letters, and the next three had one more letter than the previous. After this, the contestant(s) would decide whether to either keep the money or go double-or-nothing on a nine-letter puzzle. If they declined, they had to play the puzzle to find out what would have happened. *'Pick a Partner' – A married person would play this game with their spouse, and a passenger who they never met before. The host would ask a series of questions with two correct answers. The main contestant would choose a partner to answer one half of the question, and then they would answer their half. Five questions were played. The first four questions were worth $50 for each player, and the last one was worth $100 for each player. Each partner played twice on the first four questions, and the partner chose one partner to answer the other half for a third time on the final question. If all five questions were answered correctly, all the passengers won a prize. If they didn't, the host would ask a consolation question. The first passenger to raise their hand would answer first, followed by the main contestant. If the entire question was answered correctly, all the passengers won a consolation prize. *'Plane Annoying' – The host would read a series of questions to three contestants. While answering, however, they had to hold a baby doll (named Orville, after the younger Wright Brother) that was constantly crying for one minute. Contestants would hold the doll until they gave a correct answer, allowing them to pass it to the next contestant. When the baby stopped crying, the contestant holding it was eliminated. The last surviving contestant won a prize. *'Plane Jane' – Played in a similar manner to Charades, two contestants played this game as a team. One of them was given a rag doll (wearing a flight attendant's uniform) named Plane Jane. One player would use the doll to act out a series of ten clues; they were allowed to make noise, but they couldn't use words. The partner had to identify the clue being acted out. The team had one minute to get as many as possible. Then they changed jobs for another round of ten clues. The team split $40 for each correct guess, and if they could identify at least twelve of them total, they won a bonus prize. *'The Plane Truth' – Two contestants played this game. The host would ask a series of eight true/false questions. Each player was given a paddle with TRUE and FALSE sides. They each held up their paddle to indicate their answer. The player who gave the most correct answers won a prize for themselves, and another for everyone on their side of the plane. If there was a tie, a ninth question was asked, and the player who chose the correct answer was the winner. *'Rotation Device' – This game used a spinner resembling a propeller. Contestants were asked four questions, each with a certain number of correct answers, and after each one, they would spin the spinner. There were four possible spaces it could land on: 2, 3, 4, or ALL. Whatever it landed on, that was the number of correct answers that they had to give. Giving the required number of correct answers won $100, and having success with at least three questions won a bonus prize. *'Wingman' – Played similar to the the pricing game Race Game from The Price is Right, a contestant along with his/her partner (the "Wingman") were given a set of eight cards, each with an item on them. They had one minute to put the items in a certain order. When the main contestant thought they were correct, they would shout "Stop the clock!" If they were correct, they won a prize; if they were wrong, the host would tell them how many were correct, and they would try again by moving any incorrect cards around (although the Wingman now said "Stop the clock!"). If they were wrong on the second chance, however, they won nothing. *'Barf Bag Challenge (Turbulence Game)' – A passenger was presented three barf bags, each with a dollar amount on it (either $25, $50, or $100), and three questions inside it. The higher the dollar value, the more difficult the questions. The contestant would choose a bag, and pull a question out of it at random. If they could answer two of the questions correctly, they won that amount of money. Once one bag was played, they would choose another one until all three bags were played. This repeated with another passenger until the turbulence stopped. *'The Big Deal (End Game)' – Played like Card Sharks, the two biggest winners of the flight ((a) solo player(s) and/or (a) team(s)) competed. They would stand on either side of the plane, and the player/team with the most winnings would choose to either go first or second. Whoever played first was shown a playing card in the aisle seat on their side of the plane, and had to guess whether the next card in the sequence was higher or lower than the previous. When they made a mistake, the (other) player/team played. Whichever player/team went the furthest along the plane won a grand prize. ---- All non-monetary prizes were given to the winners immediately when they exited the plane. Featured Airports *McCarran International Airport (Las Vegas, NV) *Honolulu International Airport (Oahu) *Sanford International Airport (Orlando, FL) *Los Angeles International Airport *Kahului Airport (Maui) *Bergstrom International Airport (Austin, TX) *Dane County Regional Airport (Madison, WI) *General Wayne A. Downing International Airport (Peoria, IL) *Appleton International Airport (Wisconsin) *The Eastern Iowa Airport (Cedar Rapids) *Hector International Airport (Fargo, ND) *Gerald R. Ford Regional Airport (Grand Rapids, MI) *Shreveport Regional Airport (Louisiana) *Lehigh Valley International Airport (Allentown, PA) *Springfield-Branson Regional Airport (Missouri) *Grand Forks International Airport (North Dakota) *Eugene Airport (Oregon) *Bellingham International Airport (Washington State) Links Official Website Official Trifecta Website Official YouTube channel Category:General Knowledge Quiz Category:Traveling Game Shows Category:Syndicated shows Category:Short-Running Category:Flops Category:2014 premieres Category:2015 endings